Prevost Parts

[Tedsoldbus]

My Father in law had a 4106 for thirty years and I got to ride in it a few times before he sold it. I know what they look like and the guys I am meeting know how to look for that fan. That might be a tough nut to crack but this shop has apparently been there a long time so you never know. Fun to scrounge, especially with guys that will recognize it instantly. I added it to the list.

[olebusman]

Thank you. I have my bus all apart fixing exhaust and leaking coolant tank. Still hoping for a torus assy. Luvrbus. I bough a rts parts book just to see the fan drive and can't figure out how you would make it fit in the engine compart without rebuilding the whole left side of the compartment

[freds]

Ok just got back a quote for my first Prevost Parts order and basically everything important was special order.

Other items were delivery sometime in April.

Some of the items I can source locally were vastly over priced.

[Tedsoldbus]

It is only money Fred. How much do you need when you are dead?
 My bus needs nothing I know of for the moment, but after my planned trip to Polk City Florida, I will break something on the way down, and something on the way back.
 I have started actively scrounging a bit and have a small list of bus junk or scrap yards within a days drive. Most of the pictures they post are not older buses but I plan to visit a few of them this spring. I have your list and a few others and will call to see what you already have if I spot something at the places I will visit in Florida.
Like you, I get frustrated at the laughter on the other end of the phone when I tell them I have a 1980 bus and I am looking for "X". I expect the guys that restore a 1948 Flxible into a masterpiece would probably tell us it takes time. An old guy with a cherry Flxible told me "If we can't find a part, we have to make it, and my brother has a paint shop".  Wish I was good at that...
I know a guy that had a short clip on U Tube where he stopped on the way home from buying a bus in Wisconsin. And I think the place is in Oklahoma. It is on a dirt road so will be hard to find. There are about 5 mostly torn up older Prevost buses. He needed a few door handles and on bay door panel. He loaded them up and headed for his bus leasing business in Arizona. I told him we needed a few things and asked if he would share the location. He told me that when he dies, after people leave the cemetery, I could dig down, open the casket, and he would leave me a map....
Start google earthing Oklahoma Fred and I will meet you there if we can find it....

[chessie4905]

If it's in Oaklahoma, how hard can it be on Google maps? Just transfer images from computer to a large flat screen tv. Pretend you are watching Harry Potter series or something similar.

[Tedsoldbus]

You crack me up Chessie. A good out loud laugh. But you don't know how determined my fellow 1980 Prevost bus guy and I can be. I'm thinking hot air balloon when there is a gentle wind out of the West. Start out early. Take some beer. I don't think you can get a BUI can you?  Might have to float over the state a few hundred times. But we'll find it....

[luvrbus]

It is only money Fred. How much do you need when you are dead?
 My bus needs nothing I know of for the moment, but after my planned trip to Polk City Florida, I will break something on the way down, and something on the way back.
 I have started actively scrounging a bit and have a small list of bus junk or scrap yards within a days drive. Most of the pictures they post are not older buses but I plan to visit a few of them this spring. I have your list and a few others and will call to see what you already have if I spot something at the places I will visit in Florida.
Like you, I get frustrated at the laughter on the other end of the phone when I tell them I have a 1980 bus and I am looking for "X". I expect the guys that restore a 1948 Flxible into a masterpiece would probably tell us it takes time. An old guy with a cherry Flxible told me "If we can't find a part, we have to make it, and my brother has a paint shop".  Wish I was good at that...
I know a guy that had a short clip on U Tube where he stopped on the way home from buying a bus in Wisconsin. And I think the place is in Oklahoma. It is on a dirt road so will be hard to find. There are about 5 mostly torn up older Prevost buses. He needed a few door handles and on bay door panel. He loaded them up and headed for his bus leasing business in Arizona. I told him we needed a few things and asked if he would share the location. He told me that when he dies, after people leave the cemetery, I could dig down, open the casket, and he would leave me a map....
Start google earthing Oklahoma Fred and I will meet you there if we can find it....

There was some older Prevost at a bus yard outside Claremore Ok,the guy sold parts and leased and sold old school buses lol you get of a main road all roads are dirt and gravel in OK 

[Tedsoldbus]

Claremore huh? Meet me west of there Fred. Look for the big yellow and red balloon. Seriously though, I will try to google earth that area. Might be the place! Thanks.

[freds]

Claremore huh? Meet me west of there Fred. Look for the big yellow and red balloon. Seriously though, I will try to google earth that area. Might be the place! Thanks.

Hey I hear you Ted, it's the small or manufacture unique things that you have to dig for. Replacing a transmission or fuel filter housing no big thing.

Alternator tension bracket for the 12V alternator that is only on the motorhome edition of the Prevost?

Found a local water jet company that is going to 3D scan it and cut me a new one for the cost of a very nice dinner out with the lady of your choice, heck sold!!!!

[Tedsoldbus]

Hey Fred,
If you get scratching your head on something like that, have to old one, and it does not weigh too much, send it to me. Young man up the street made me the bracket you are talking about. I gave him the old one that was cracked all the way through on one side. It had a couple of bends in it that he matched exactly. He also made it wider and a tiny bit thicker and powder coated it. He wanted almost nothing for the work. After trying without luck to get the metal "things" that the door latch clamps onto from Jean and Prevost, he is making me 4 of those. Half my doors only have one on each side. There are bolt holes where the other side should be. Bus still looks straight, but he made one to test his work and that door now closes more snugly. It did not change the line up of the panels so wondering why someone took one off each side of half of the bay doors? Anyhow PM me if you want him to fabricate something. He is very good and after a ride in my bus he is hooked on fixing things for the bus. He is maybe 25 years old but drives a 66 mustang that is cherry. That alone  makes him our kind of guy. He loves a project. Stares at it, studies it, and goes away for a day or two. I wish I could send him to you for a month. So far, if I can't find it, he can make it.
I just spent 2 days taking out all the rusty screws I could find everywhere on the outside of the bus and interior panels etc. and replacing with stainless. That is my level of "mechanic", but it was fun. Anytime I am holding my Ryobi and wearing a tool belt to hold screws, is a good day to be alive!

[freds]

Hey Fred,
He is very good and after a ride in my bus he is hooked on fixing things for the bus. He is maybe 25 years old but drives a 66 mustang that is cherry. That alone  makes him our kind of guy. He loves a project. Stares at it, studies it, and goes away for a day or two. I wish I could send him to you for a month. So far, if I can't find it, he can make it.

Hey your friend sounds like a great find.

When you visit the salvage place take a look at the pantograph doors.

I want to convert at least a couple of my bay doors from rubber hinges to pantograph where they swing out and up vertical to the ground.

If he can convert them to work our style bay doors I would very much be beholden to him.

I am heading to Quartzite AZ in about another ten days, so getting into a time crunch to get down there for the BCI Rally with my other stops.

Jean at Prevost did send me an engineering drawing photo for the part and I did my best to create the part in FreeCad which I keep learning and forgetting. Each time I do something I generally have to burn a few hours re-watching YouTube videos.

I was just at the hacker space and used their laser cutter to cut a sample of my efforts out in cardboard.

Which I will take to the firm that is going to water jet cut my part and see how close I came to what's needed against the part that I left with them.

But hey just looking at my first effort in cardboard and it looks dam great!!!

[robertglines1]

how much bay door hardware you need?

[Tedsoldbus]

You sitting on a box of it and didn't tell me? I thought you were my friend. I appreciate it but the one he made is better than what is on there. I have him making me 3 more now and I think I am set. I am about to head for Polk City mid Jan to get schooled by Doc and Mark on my 6V92. The place I go to get work done just does Prevost and there are always 20 waiting in the yard for something. Too close to Nashville and all the country singer buses I guess. He did Charlie Daniels and now does Travis Tritt and others. So what. I am not star struck. They just make me wait. When I can get in, they are very good but just fix what I asked for. I pay them, and then it is sort of "get out". There is no learning, but then they are not a schoolhouse. Very glad to go see two guys all too happy to "coach me on my coach". I hope your new year starts out better than the folks in Colorado. My sis lives in Denver and watched it roll across the plains. Yikes.

[freds]

I thought I would do a follow up post on my adventure of getting a simple replacement alternator tensioning arm for my supplemental 12V alternator that charges the original house battery system.

Bus is 24V with a separate alternator and hey I needed to replace both alternators!!!

Anyway the alternator tensioning arm is special order from Prevost and was only on the motorhome version of the bus.

I found a local firm that would 3D scan it and water jet cut a new one for $200.00 with a 10 day lead time which is just going to under the wire, before I take off for the BCI rally.

After I dropped it off I asked Prevost if there was an engineering diagram which they sent me.



As I mentioned earlier I entered this as a drawing sketch in FreeCad, translating to metric as I did it.



I then exported it as a SVG file and took it to the local maker space and laser cut it out in cardboard for comparison against the original. Which due to the holidays I haven't been able to do yet.



Then a wild hair occurred to me today what if I sent it out be 3D printed in metal?

So I converted the drawing sketch to a 3D object and submitted it to a couple of services for a quick price quote.



1. Shapeways came back with a price of $370.00 for steel unspecified.
2. Craftcloud3d gave me a hole bunch of options, some of them are:
    a. 316L Stainless Steel $310.00
    b. TPU (Rubber) $54.00
    c. Titanium $1837.00
    d. Bronze $3145.00
    e. Maraging Steel (tooling) $764.00

They had an option for gold but didn't quote it LOL!!!

If my design replication effort works I am hoping they will produce the part for less than the original $200.00 quote.

[chessie4905]

If that is flat, wouldn't be that big a problem making from flat piece of steel. Torch, grinder, drill, and files. Especially with drawing, or older with pattern.